Pre-STL Day 1: Unpacking and Buckets

Unloading

The team members helped unload the many items into the lab that were brought to the Silicon Valley Regional, such as the black crates, the robot, the bumpers, tool chest, robot cart, and carpets.  After most of the luggage was placed on the field, students helped move the large rolls of carpet into the sheltered area outside. This carpet will replace the current carpet on the field because it is getting torn.

After unloading from the truck, students helped pack necessary items into a giant, wooden 254 crate that will be shipped to St. Louis, MO in time for the FRC World Championships.  They helped by loading in the robot, bumpers, tool chest, trussing, pit lighting, foam tiles, sunglasses, and other important items.  The giant crate is all sealed up and ready to ship.

Buckets

The team is looking into some pretty significant redesigns of certain subsystems of the robot in preparation for World’s.  They purchased a 5-gallon white bucket and cut off the top portion, placing it in place of the practice robot’s indexer.  After securing it into position with tape, the students tested the bucket “magazine” system by intaking and exhausting frisbees, which worked much better than expected.  The discs glide cleanly under the bucket to form the four-disc stack.  This approach will allow the robot to accept discs directly from the feeder station, while allowing for rapid shooting and less potential for jamming (hopefully). While we are heavily weighing the implications of such a major design change, students are preparing designs and prototypes to accurately measure the risks involved.

We also enjoyed some delicious chocolate cake, made by the one and only Esteban Parker.